What are the signs your area has arrived?

It’s home to Daylesford, Diptyque and townhouses worth more than £10m, but Westbourne Grove hasn’t always been the melting pot of fashion and wealth it is now. So undesirable was this part of Notting Hill in the 1950s, that buildings were compulsorily purchased and demolished. “A large house on nearby Lansdowne Road would have been 16 bedsits sharing a bathroom,” says Brendan Roberts, director of Aylesford International. “The area has changed beyond recognition.”

The rags-to-riches tale of Westbourne Grove is playing out across London from Elizabeth Street in Belgravia to Bellenden Road in Peckham. Is it possible to predict where will be the next ‘it’ neighbourhood? Yes, according to Marlon Lloyd Malcolm, director of Lurot Brand, as London’s most sought after districts all meet a number of criteria. “Value is all about perception and when these criteria are met, the perception of an area changes,” he says.

Areas that have ‘arrived’ will have at least one destination restaurant – the Ledbury in Notting Hill, for example – and a choice of delis, boutiques and gyms. There might even be a private members club such as Soho House, which has properties in Shoreditch, Soho and Chiswick. “If you’re living in a £6m house you want to be impressed by what is going on locally,” explains William Tellwright of John D Wood. “In Kensington and Chelsea, estate agents still value houses according to their proximity to Peter Jones and Harrods.”

Fancy shops and restaurants are thus one of the most obvious indicators that an area is on the rise, particularly if upmarket chains are moving in. For Clapham Old Town it was the opening of Waitrose, in Queen’s Park it was M&S Simply Food. The gentrification of the local boozer is another promising sign: The Eagle in Clerkenwell, The Bolingbroke in Battersea and The Sands End in Fulham have brought young professionals to previously working-class areas. Markets have also become a status symbol of cool: Columbia Road Flower Market in Bethnal Green, Borough Market in Southwark, and Broadway Market in Hackney, as well as local farmer’s markets.

The Grosvenor Estate had this in mind when gentrifying Elizabeth Street and Motcomb Street in Belgravia, which are now filled with interesting shops, pubs and restaurants. Marylebone High Street has been transformed in a similar way by Howard de Walden Estates. “They’ve been very clever: there’s now a really cool mix of useful shops and fashionable boutiques. There needs to be a balance like this for an area to be desirable,” says Simon Deen of Aston Chase.

If you’re buying a property in an area with these amenities, however, it’s probably already come up, warns Lloyd Malcolm. “When there’s a Waitrose or a branch of Soho House, you’ve got to ask yourself why they picked that area in the first place,” he explains.

He believes that the geography of an area and its infrastructure make it desirable, long before posh coffee shops arrive. “Areas such as Chelsea, Mayfair and Knightsbridge are centrally located and easy to get in and out of by road as well as by public transport and they have renowned schools and hospitals,” he says. “It’s easy to see why historically they have been fashionable places to live.” Fulham meanwhile, situated adjacent to Chelsea, has benefitted from the overspill effect. “A huge current of middle class executive types moved to the area over the past 15 years to be near to Chelsea,” he says. “Perceptions changed and values went up even though it is actually relatively cut off.”

Increasingly, an area’s potential for future price growth adds to its cachet, adds Tellwright, hence the appetite to invest in Crossrail hubs such as Ealing and Balham. “It’s a sensible move as when Crossrail arrives you will be just a few minutes from King’s Cross,” he says. “Today’s buyers are open to being speculative.”

If there isn’t an aesthetic appeal, however, it’s unlikely that an area will ever truly ‘arrive’. It is no coincidence that London’s most expensive street, Kensington Palace Gardens, is set within a park, and The Boltons, where houses sell for more than £50m, has access to a picturesque square garden. According to Simon Deen, proximity to parks and commons has become more important to buyers in the past decade, as fewer families are moving to the country. “People are paying as much to live in Wimbledon as they are in Chelsea these days,” he says.

Green space alone isn’t good enough, though. Hip areas – past and present – all have a good amount of period architecture, adds Jonathan Cooke of Douglas & Gordon in Kensington. “Classical architecture is fundamental to a prime London address,” he explains. “Notting Hill has always had white stucco crescents and stunning garden squares.”

Georgian is the most revered style, as found in Chelsea, Notting Hill and South Kensington as well as in up and coming places such as Spitalfields, Camberwell and Peckham. “These areas are so easy to gentrify,” says Brendan Roberts. “They’re leafy with village greens, pretty churches and double-fronted houses, plus all the village attributes such as pubs, shops and schools.” Victorian is the next best, and there is an increasing desire for industrial-style architecture, of the type found in Shoreditch and Bermondsey.

Smart modern developments can also raise the profile of an area, as has been witnessed in Bayswater, since the completion of the Lancasters, 77 apartments with views across Hyde Park. Chelsea Barracks in south Chelsea and the Nine Elms development in Battersea are poised to have a similar impact. “Developments can really pull up an area,” says Cooke. “Bayswater was once the poor cousin of Notting Hill but soon this will no longer be the case.”

People are fickle, however, and an area can have all these attributes and still not be considered the best address in town. In order to climb into the echelons of super prime, an area must have an X-factor, a USP, says Roberts. “In South Kensington it is the picture postcard crescents, in Notting Hill it’s the diversity,” he says. “A house worth £25m will be 300 yards from a shop selling bongs.”

The map of super prime London is changing fast, though, according to Tellwright, as the next generation put down roots outside the hallowed postcodes of Kensington and Chelsea. “The fact is that kids don’t want to live in neighbourhoods that were originally colonised by their parents,” he confirms. “They like edgier places, which is why London will never stop evolving.”

The next areas

to hit the big time

Kensal Rise

This is the new Ladbroke Grove, now Ladbroke Grove has come over all Notting Hill. What Kensal Rise lacks in architecture (the houses are mainly Edwardian) it makes up for in large gardens, proximity to central London and transport links. There are also enviable shops and eateries including Brooks Butchers, The Paradise By Way of Kensal Green and The Chamberlayne on Chamberlayne Road, which was voted the coolest street in Europe by Vogue.

Nine Elms

Chelsea-ites are already darting across the river to use the new Waitrose (it’s more zen than the King’s Road branch and has a sushi bar, right). But once the regeneration of the Battersea Power Station area is finished, they’ll be swapping their townhouses for vast lateral flats with views over the Thames and access to a Sky pool. Battersea Park is a hop away and the new Battersea Roof Gardens, designed by the landscape architects behind New York’s High Line, will add further green space to the area. Fact: it’s now socially acceptable to live the ‘other’ side of the river.

Fitzrovia

If Marylebone is the new Mayfair, Fitzrovia is the new Marylebone. The area, once a bit quiet and down at heel was recently named one of the best places to live in the capital by The Sunday Times. There is an abundance of classical architecture, modish pubs and restaurants – notably The Riding House Cafe, Berners Tavern – and you can stroll to King’s Cross or Soho.